STS-41

STS-41

Ulysses and its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) in the payload bay of Discovery
Names	Space Transportation System-41
Mission type	Ulysses spacecraft deployment
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1990-090A
SATCAT no.	20841
Mission duration	4 days, 2 hours, 10 minutes, 4 seconds
Distance travelled	2,747,866 km (1,707,445 mi)
Orbits completed	66
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch mass	117,749 kg (259,592 lb)
Landing mass	89,298 kg (196,868 lb)
Payload mass	15,362 kg (33,867 lb)
Crew
Crew size	5
Members	Richard N. Richards Robert D. Cabana Bruce E. Melnick William Shepherd Thomas Akers
Start of mission
Launch date	October 6, 1990, 11:47:15 (October 6, 1990, 11:47:15) UTC (7:47:15 am EDT)
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39B
Contractor	Rockwell International
End of mission
Landing date	October 10, 1990, 13:57:19 (October 10, 1990, 13:57:19) UTC (6:57:19 am PDT)
Landing site	Edwards, Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	300 km (190 mi)
Apogee altitude	307 km (191 mi)
Inclination	28.45°
Period	90.60 minutes
Instruments
Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Chromosome and Plant Cell Division Experiment (CHROMEX) INTELSAT Solar Array Coupon (ISAC) Investigations into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP) Physiological Systems Experiment (PSE) Radiation Monitoring Experiment (RME III) Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) Solid Surface Combustion Experiment (SSCE) Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) Voice Command System (VCS)
STS-41 mission patch From left: Melnick, Cabana, Akers, Richards and Shepherd are pictured in front of the T-38 jet trainer Space Shuttle program ← STS-31 (35) STS-38 (37) →

STS-41 was the 36th Space Shuttle mission and the eleventh mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The four-day mission had a primary objective of launching the Ulysses probe as part of the "International Solar Polar Mission" (ISPM).